Preview: 'Downton Abbey' finale is Sunday

The best part of Sunday's finale: the return of Shirley MacLaine as Martha Levinson, the blunt American mother of Lady Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern), who will show up at the Abbey with her son, Harold, played by Paul Giamatti.

Downtown Abbey’s short eight-episode season is already coming to an end Sunday and we have some questions that still need answering, and I’m hoping for more depth than I’ve seen this season.

Fans are hanging with the show. The Season 4 premiere set a PBS record with 10.2 million viewers, and it even stood its ground against the Super Bowl, with ratings up 3 percent compared to last year and clocking in as the No. 2 program at 9 p.m. that Sunday.

The two-hour finale Sunday will need some serious oomph to overcome this lackluster season that has made us miss Matthew and Sybil even more. Thankfully, there have been no painful deaths so far this season, but there have been some painful story lines. (Warning, spoilers ahead if you haven’t caught up yet this season).

The rape of Anna was a disturbing one that was handled pretty shallowly, in my opinion. The plight of women in the early 20th century can be a great thread on this show, like in Season 3 when poor housemaid Ethel Parks couldn’t find work because of the scandal of having a child out of wedlock and was left with only prostitution as an option.

I was hoping creator Julian Fellowes was going for a similar vein of comparing today’s justice system to that of the 1920s when a woman is raped, but no, instead we had a soap opera story line of Anna hiding it from Bates so he won’t kill the guy, then rejecting her husband’s touch because she’s traumatized, putting her marriage in danger.

So that leaves the first question I’m hoping the finale answers: Did Bates kill the guy who raped Anna? It seems awfully convenient that Mr. Green slipped in front of a bus when Bates was “out of town.”

And where’s Edith’s baby daddy? The season started off so hopeful for poor unlucky Lady Edith. She had started a career as a columnist and started wearing stunning clothes as she tripped around London with her (married) editor. Now he’s missing in Germany, she’s pregnant and she doesn’t seem so keen on her column anymore. That editor might have a few more secrets to reveal if he’s found, like how come he’s so good at cheating at poker?

Lady Mary seems to finally be lightening up, but will she choose one of the many suitors buzzing about her?

Thomas Barrow, the devious under butler we love to hate, has something on the new lady maid that forces her to spill secrets. But we don’t know yet what he has on her. If it means more screen time for the wicked Rob James-Collier, let’s hope we find out.

The treat we are most looking forward to in the finale is the return of Shirley MacLaine. The scenes with the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith) trading insults with Martha Levinson (MacLaine) will undoubtedly be the most quoted of the night. MacLaine, the blunt American mother of Lady Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern), will show up at the Abbey with her son, Harold, played by Paul Giamatti.